‘Moving TLSDF Forward to the 26th Anniversary’
The Life Skills Development Foundation (TLSDF) was founded in 1998 as part of Save the Children USA’s transition strategy when it closed down its operational presence in Thailand. Our vision is to see every child in our impact areas enjoy their inherent rights, a nd the overall mission is to empower and build the capacity of the individuals and groups responsible for ensuring the basic rights of children. At the program level, our mission is to promote child rights and life skill education with and for disenfranchised children, to enhance their fullest potential development, reducing risk behaviors and factors that may harm their quality of life.
The operations of TLSDF’s program in 2023, have been a greater turning point of post COVID-era, we were enabled to run the 9 directed implementing projects and 11 child-rights to be heard activities in parallel with multiple child-rights advocacy activities that collaborated with our child rights focused networks at local, national, and international levels. This dedicated work is made possible by the support of Edwards Lifesciences Foundation thru CAF America, Daiichi Sankyo limited company, kinder noth hilfe (KNH Germany), Diakonia Sweden’s Thailand office, Education Equity Foundation (EEF), CRC Asia, Teer Des Homme (TDH) Netherlands, Save the Children Thailand, and public donation including Give2Asia’s Friends’s Fund. Please review our 2023 achievements in the following.
1. Our ‘Pediatric and Family Cardiac Program’ (PFCP) continued its 7th year of life-saving mission by providing financial assistance to 31 structural heart disease patients who lacked full health care coverage through the state’s Universal Health Insurance program. In total, we have been successfully saving more than 250 lives of heart disease patients since 2017. Thank you to EDWARDS Lifesciences Foundation and Daiichi Sankyo (Thailand) Limited. In 2024, we are still saving more lives.
2. Our second year of the five-year project on ‘Migrant Women Empowerment for Children’s Health Care and Development Promotion’ (MWEC) successfully formed another 6 migrant women self-help groups, bringing the total to 19, comprising 166 members who are taking care of 194 children. In 2023, with their larger amount of savings funds, they used it for the better livelihood of their families as well as their children’s health care and education.
The project also supported the capacity building of a network of migrant youth leaders (MYL Network), from 3 partner schools, including Ban Chedi Mae Krua School, Ban Mae Jo School, and Wat Mae Kaed Noi School, 64 students in total with the process of life skills training to enhance their leadership and peer-to-peer educator skills, and facilitated them to set up a migrant youth network who transferred their learned knowledge and skills to friends in their respective schools and communities, they made totaling reached 9,500 audiences. Thank you for the support from Kinder Not Hilfe (KNH)
3. ‘Build Back Better’: Empowering the Ethnic and Indigenous Youth Network and Child Rights-focused CSO Coalition in Upper Northern Thailand.
In 2023, Child Rights Youth activists (CRYA) and Tonkla Indigenous Youth network (TKN) were equipped with additional skills, building on leadership skills, how to build a core group of leaders, recreation activity leading skills, activism, and public speaking skills. So many of them became leading voices of CRYA and TKN. 8 groups of CRYA and TKN were also capacitated on SHIFT’s knowledge and skills, and became SHIFTORs. They established and implemented 10 self-initiated projects from their planning workshops with support from this project and ‘Be the Voices’, many of CRYA representatives engaged and spoke out on behalf of children and youth in upper northern Thailand in several child rights campaigns and advocacy platforms at national and international levels beyond the LCRC & CRYA program.
In 2023, Lanna Child Rights Coalition (LCRC) representatives established the LCRC’s campaign and advocacy plan to progress child rights work through policy advocacy strategies and activities. It focused on 4 issues: 1. Protection of children from violence in the form of physical violence and corporal punishment, online violence, bullying, and sexual exploitation of children. 2. Child rights and a healthy environment with a focus on climate change 3. Child rights to develop legal status 4. Child rights for education, occupational development, and culture. They reviewed their child protection policies in alignment with the coalition’s policy and worked in collaboration with Offices of Children and Family Shelter and local authority agencies to provide capacity building for the committee members of children and youth councils, local authority officers, and village child protection volunteers aiming to strengthen the meaningful child participation platforms and child-protection mechanism in 8 existing sub-districts and expanded to 2 new sub-districts. Altogether, they reached 10 sub-districts of 10 districts in 4 provinces, covering 18000 children and youth populations.
From November to December 2023, they successfully launched the Lanna CRC Festival#3: “Child-Friendly Space to End All Violence Against Children and Women” as LCRC’s key advocacy event of the year 2023. In solidarity, LCRC, CRYA&TKN, and a migrant women’s network were empowered to hand in their concerns and recommendations to Chiang Mai’s member representative, who sits on the Committee on Children, Youth, Women, Elderly, Persons with Disabilities, Ethnic Groups, and Persons with Diverse Sexuality House of Representatives. We thank Diakonia Thailand for their invaluable support to the project.
4. Strengthen and empower the Lanna Child Rights Coalition (LCRC) as a network to advocate for Child Rights promotion and protection in its second year, supported by KNH Germany.
In 2023, the project contributed to developing the Lanna Child Rights Coalition (LCRC) in three major outputs as in the followings.
1. Leaders of Tonkla Indigenous Youth Network (TKN) and their peers from four regions of Thailand were supported to consolidate their proposals and recommendations and submit them to the Director General of the Department of Social Development and Welfare, Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. Their concerns and recommendations contributed to the proposal to expedite the enacting process of the law to promote and protect the rights of ethnic and indigenous peoples, pending endorsement from the Office of the Prime Minister.
2. Attendees from thirteen LCRC member organizations learned the concept of meaningful child participation and facilitation skills in organizing meaningful participation processes with children and youth.
3. From November to December 2023, they successfully launched the Lanna CRC Festival#3: “Child-Friendly Space to End All Violence Against Children and Women” as LCRC’s key advocacy event of the year 2023.
5. The project to support the development of ethnic youths who have no employment, vocational education and training by the CSO’s area-based networks: Northern Thailand (Mae Hong Son) which implemented by The Life Skills Development Foundation (TLSDF) or RakDek in Thai began on 19 August 2022 that last to July 2023 successfully reached out to 57 unreached NEET youths aged 15-24 years who never access to any state’s sponsor vocational education institutions. Among these numbers, 10 of them are grade 9 graduates, 45 dropped out of school, and 2 are young parents. Thank you for the support of the Equity Education Fund (EEF) for this amazing project.
6. ‘Step Up the Fight Against Sexual Exploitation of Children; SUFASEC’ supported by CRC Asia and Terre des Hommes, Netherlands.
For Year 1, TLSDF/SUFASEC’s milestones are getting the buy-in, support, and commitment of various stakeholders to the implementation of the SUFASEC project. TLSDF held consultation meetings in each of the target districts – Fang District, Chiang Mai; Chiang Kong District, Chiang Rai; and Pang Mapha District, Mae Hong Son. These meetings were attended by local actors, including local government, community leaders, public health offices, child protection agencies,
and schools. Teachers who attended the consultations shared the importance of teaching students about the dangers of the SEC and the importance of Comprehensive Sexuality Education. They collectively agreed that a training for teachers on this topic, organized by the SUFASEC project, can fill the gap in schools. Other attendees echoed the same sentiment and committed to playing a role in the implementation of SUFASEC projects and interventions. Representatives from Educational Service Area Offices supported these points. The public health sector of Fang District, Chiang Mai, Chiang Kong District, Chiang Rai, and Pang Mapha District, Mae Hong Son, participated in the consultations and shared that public health and SHRH can also contribute to the objectives of the SUFASEC project. Local government representatives at sub-district, district, and provincial levels expressed their support to the project in the consultations. TLSDF’s SUFASEC considers this positive feedback as a crucial first step on our eventual goal of developing a subcommittee for SEC Prevention under the District Quality of Life Committee in the districts we are working in. These actions are part of a bigger plan that goes beyond the implementation of the SUFASEC Project. The long-term goal of the SUFASEC implementation of the Life Skills Development Foundation in Upper Northern Thailand is to have a subcommittee for SEC Prevention under the District Quality of Life Committee in the districts where we are working. This will hopefully lead to more effective strategies and the execution of policies related to the SEC.
7. The SHIFT campaign focuses on the topic of “Healthy Environments and Children’s Rights.” In her capacity as the secretary of the LCRC, TLSDF trained CRYA leaders in an intensive SHIFT expedited process and helped them launch four campaigns on the topic of “Children’s Rights and a Healthy Environment” between September and November of 2024. Child Rights Coalition Asia (CRC Asia) provided technical and financial support, enabling CRYA leaders to execute four campaigns: 1. Light from Trash 2. Environmental conservation is driven by youth power 3. JUNIOR’S POWER 4. CHANGE Hmong, change; it is a waste. which uses online communication channels and community spaces to reach a target audience of over 25,000 people.
8. The project organized focus group discussions with youths on online dangers and solutions (VOICE). TLSDF has implemented this project to expand the participation space for children and youth at the international level between September – November 2024, with funding from Terre des hommes, Netherlands in addition to the project ‘Step Up the Fight Against Sexual Exploitation of Children; SUFASEC’, the results of these focus group discussions with representatives of children and youth of Thailand will be presented at the joint meeting of the civil society network and the European Union’s working group between 5-9 April 2024 in Brussels, Belgium.
9. TLSDF conducted the child consultation process on child rights and the environment with a special focus on climate change to expand the participation space for children and youth claiming their entitled rights at the international level. Results of the consultation, delegated children’s comments, concerns, and suggestions will be contributed to the development of UN CRC General Comment No. 26 on child rights and the environment with a special focus on climate change which has been adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and is the obligation of state parties that have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child to promote and protect children’s rights.
In 2023, TLSDF also facilitated and promoted eleven children and youth participatory activities/events at local, national, and international as in the followings. 1. The children’s consultation on environment and child rights, with a particular emphasis on climate change. The United Nations Commission on the Rights of the Child received recommendations from representatives of children, which were utilized to enhance the writing of the UNCRC General Comment publications. On September 28, 2023, this document was made available to the public and sent to the member states for implementation.
2. The seminar on youth participation in democracy involved CRYA members and partner staff members from eight different nations.
3. Enabled the CRYA representatives to participate in the PRIDE FESTIVAL, an association of groups’ push for gender parity under the direction of Save the Children Thailand.
4. Made it easier for CRYA representatives to participate in the public hearings on internet violence against youth. The UN Secretary-General’s Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Children served as its host.
5. Enabled representatives from CRYA to participate in a parallel session of the Asia Pacific Conference for Sustainable Development, raising awareness of the issue of the lack of safe environments and clean drinking water—two things that children, the future generations, have a right to.
6. “The Power of Indigenous Youth Join together to create society towards change,” was the theme of the 7th National Assembly of the Council of Indigenous Peoples of Thailand in 2013 7. Encourage two CRYA representatives to go to the CRC Asia-organized Asia Regional Children’s Meeting in Manila, Philippines, August 17–20, which is focused on the theme of Growing Together.
8. Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Youth Camp: “a camp to promote the rights of children and youth on gender diversity” to monitor and offer recommendations for the government sectors’ efforts
9. Encourage CRYA members to take part in the 16-day Orange Days Activism; this project, co-sponsored by Our Voices Our Choices: Youth unite to end violence against girls and young women in Bangkok
10. Encourage CRYA members to attend the “Child Safe & Friendly Environment” event in honor of General Comment No. 26 on child rights and the environment, which focuses on climate change in particular at the national level
11. Encourage CRYA members to attend the climate change panel discussion to understand how local environmental issues relate to global issues.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude, on behalf of the Life Skills Development Foundation (TLSDF), to the network of all partners, organizations, agencies from the public and private sectors, business, community leaders, and volunteers, including the youth leaders of CRYA in all TLSDF impact areas, for their support, cooperation, and participation in the foundation’s program activities throughout the fiscal year 2023. Specifically, I would like to thank Save the Children Thailand, Edwards LifeScience’s Foundation, and Daiichi Sankyo Thailand, limited., CRC Asia, Kinder Not Hilfe, Diakonia Thailand, the Education Equality Fund (EEF), Teer des Homme Netherlands, as well as all the kind individuals who donated to TLSDF.
For the fiscal year 2024, TLSDF, or RakDek in Thai, will continue and strive our work for the rights of children in the changing situation in Thai and global society that may infringe on their entitled rights and affect the welfare and quality of their lives, such as acts of violence against children in all forms and places, natural environment that causes various disasters, living in a risky digital environment that must be consciously adjusted, and the living conditions.
TLSDF’s program in 2024: ‘Moving TLSDF Forward to the 26th Anniversary’
In 2024, TLSDF will continue implementing our 7 former projects and 1 new project as listed below.
1. The ‘Pediatric and Family Cardiac Program’ (PFCP) supported by the Edwards Lifescience Foundation and the Daiichi Sankyo company
2. The ‘ Migrant Women Empowerment for Children’s Health Care and Development Promotion’ (MWEC) supported by Kinder Not Hilfe (KNH) as the third year of the five-year project
3. The ‘Build Back Better’: Empowering the Ethnic and Indigenous Youth Network and Child Rights-focused CSO Coalition in Upper Northern Thailand, supported by Diakonia Thailand, as the fourth year of the five-year project
4. The project called ‘Strengthen and Empower the Lanna Child Rights Coalition (LCRC) as a network to advocate for Child Rights promotion and protection’ sis supported by KNH Germany until 30 June 2024.
5. ‘Step Up the Fight Against Sexual Exploitation of Children; SUFASEC’ supported by CRC Asia and Terre des Hommes, Netherlands, as the second year of the three-year project 6. B.O.L.D. – Policy; Building Organisations & Local actors Dialogue (for) – Policy project
contributes to the EU’s Lot No. 1 Actions implemented in the whole of Thailand. Diakonia is the action’s lead applicant with two co-applicants, namely,the Center for Girls Foundation and the Life Skills Development Foundation (TLSDF)
With trust and devotion to Child Rights Promotion and Protection
Kreangkrai Chaimuangdee
Executive Director and General Secretary
The Life Skills Development Foundation
Chiang Mai, Thailand.
The Life Skills Development Foundation (TLSDF)
159/114 Anusarn Villa T.Padeat A.Mueang Chiang Mai 50100 Thailand.
Tel: +66 53 212 757 Fax: +66 53 212 758
Email: tlsdfrd2021@gmail.com, www.rakdek.or.th
